Propeller Goes Hollywood Boulevard

JonnyMac

This is one of three gigantic action figures built by my friends at Alliance Studio for Blizzard in support of their new game "Overwatch." Uses an EFX-TEK HC-8+ for lighting control and an AP-16+ for audio output (both products use the Propeller). Very simple programming, but the crowds loved it and that's what matters to me. Have heard that the crowds in Busan, South Korea, and Paris, France have had similar very positive reactions.

Press coverage: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/life-sized-action-figures-are-popping-around-world-promote-overwatch-171622

Heater.

Cool.

Any chance my few lines of JKISS32 random number generator are running in there ?

That adweek page lives up to it's name. First time I hit the link it took a minute of loading before it jambed the page, then the browser, then my whole machine!

Some how it consumes about 400M of RAM and 10% CPU load continuously. Some how they have prevented those figures showing up in Chrome's task manager. Sneaky.

JonnyMac

Any chance my few lines of JKISS32 random number generator are running in there ?

As a matter of fact it is! Each of the displays has three game sounds. When the button is pressed I randomly -- using a value provided by your JKISS32 code -- select which to play. I also ensure that all files have played before repeating, and I never play the same file back-to-back. One of the sound files for Tracer has to do with her ability to time travel and has an interesting modulation to it. During that part of the audio I randomly vary the brightness of the light on her chest.

This is a common bit of code in my show-control type props.

pub select_show | lotto, mask

  repeat
    lotto := (prng.random >> 1) // 3                            ' 0..2, random
    if (lotto <> last)                                          ' no back-to-back repeats
      mask := |< lotto                                          ' check against playlist
      ifnot (mask & playlist)
        quit

  last := lotto                                                 ' save for next time

  playlist |= mask                                              ' update playlist
  if (playlist == %111)
    playlist := %000

  return lotto

Brian Fairchild

JonnyMac wrote: »

...I randomly...select which to play....also ensure that all files have played before repeating...never play the same file back-to-back.

Ah, that sort of 'random'

(I do the same for the random sequences in my pyro controllers).

Heater.

@JonnyMac,

It makes me happy that my code is bringing a smile to peoples faces around the world. Even if it is tiny, a vanishingly small part of the whole venture.

@Brian,

Ha yes. That sort of random. That's the annoying thing about random numbers, you tend to get the same ones over and over very soon. Something to do with the Poisson distribution I think: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisson_distribution

JonnyMac

Here are all three (Propeller powered!) displays -- this was test setup at EGADS (company that made the boxes) in Las Vegas a few weeks ago.



Left to right are Tracer (Hollywood), Eddie Yang (partner at Alliance), Pharah (Buson, South Korea), Steve Wang (legendary Hollywood creature & FX creator), and Gengi (Paris, France).

The combined weight of the characters and their enclosures is nearly 6000 pounds each. Special steel-reinforced shipping crates and cradles had to be built for the outer boxes to prevent the 1" acryllic windows from flexing in transit. Tracer and Gengi are two pieces (legs, torso/head/arms); Pharah's wings are separate pieces.

For those wondering, the characters were in fact 3D printed (in pieces, and on something much bigger than your Makerbot!). Here's a shot of fabricator Camille with Tracer's freshly-printed head:



The prints were assembed and internally strengthened with fiberglass, and armatures made of standard speed-rail added for support and mounting to the platform. The exteriors were body-shopped (yes, like a car) and prepped for their specialty paint jobs. Here's Amber body-shopping one of Genji's legs.



This is a test-fitting of Genji components -- you can see the detail work in the painting: multiple masks for each "muscle" were used to create a Kevlar effect.



Here's a shot during a test fit of Tracer's legs and hips. Rudy (glasses) is well over 6 feet tall -- just to give you an idea of scale (characters are about 12' tall, the enclosures top out at 16')



Normally, things like this would be molded and then cast which would make them much lighter, but the schedule did not allow Alliance to do this. They worked a lot of long, hard hours to pull this off, and have my sincere respect and admiration.

Here's a little video Tianna put together -- she is painting Pharah's legs with Camille.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/167579747

(Sorry, it's on vimeo and I couldn't get it to embed)

For me, this was an easy project. Shop coordinator, Mike Deak, built all of the lighting panels (from off-the-shelve 12-volt LED strips) and harnesses for the characters, and setup the controller, audio, board and power supply per my suggestion. In Las Vegas I helped with trimming and checking harnesses, then putting the sounds into the AP-16+ and whipping up little programs for the characters' "Try Me" button.

I really do get great satisfaction working on these projects because they are such crowd pleasers. First and foremost, I see myself as an entertainer so everything that I do has entertainment at its core. While we were nearing the end of setup in Hollywood about 6AM yesterday, two guys showed up: one had driven from San Diego (about two hours away by car), another from Orange Country (not as far, but still a hike in LA traffic). By the time I left there was a crowd of about 200 Overwatch fans in front of the display -- every one of them smiling. I spoke with as many as I could, and showed them pictures on my phone of Pharah and Gengi.

Steve Wang and Eddie Yang, owners of Alliance Studio. Look them up on IMDb.com -- they've done a lot of cool work in Hollywood.



I don't know what's next for my friends at Alliance, but if it needs to light up it will be Propeller powered!

JonnyMac

It makes me happy that my code is bringing a smile to peoples faces around the world. Even if it is tiny, a vanishingly small part of the whole venture.

I share these [mostly non-tech] projects because I do in fact benefit by participating in the forums -- I'm constantly lifting clever bits of code for my projects, and using quality objects when I find them. Your PRNG code is a standard in my Propeller templates; that is to say that I use it any time I need random numbers.

JonnyMac

We had to take down the Tracer display last night, but not before Jimmy Kimmel's show used it in a gag.

JonnyMac

This blog just went up about the fabrication process.
-- http://www.mold3d.com/blog/2016/5/25/assembling-the-giants

tritonium

Phew!

Lots of talent from diverse areas on show - and much unseen.
You just have to wonder what the budget for a project like that is.
Brett Weir having to jump through hoops to get $25k for his Lamestation- bet that's just peanuts to these guys... funny old world.

Dave

JonnyMac

I don't know the budget but I'm sure it was quite big, especially considering the accelerated schedule, man-hours, materials, and transportation costs (each display weights 6000 lbs).

Blizzard has the money to fund these kinds of marketing campaigns, and when they need a display, they call on Alliance, who calls on me for lighting control and animation. For the last five years, Biomorphs and Alliance displays have been powered by the Propeller.

JonnyMac

Official Overwatch Build Video

Cluso99

Thanks for posting the info Jon. Truly amazing stuff.

BTW is that Busan S.Korea?
My daughter was living 1hr north in Ulsan before she moved to UK after Xmas. Her twin boys were born in Busan Hospital.

JonnyMac

Yes. Busan, South Korea. I helped setup the display in Hollywood. A third crew setup in Paris (which just came down today).